Last Thursday, British cops rudely dragged Australian journalist Julian Assange out of the Embassy of Ecuador in London. He used to be the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks. Now, he'll get tried and likely extradited to the US at the request of the American authorities.
I'd like to remind you that Julian Assange is associated with documentary exposés of US military war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan, tortures at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, and the leaking of Democratic Party emails shortly before the last presidential election.
The US and the UK call Assange a traitor. But our "libtards" keep wondering how Russia would've treated such "treason." If there was treason. Well, first, Assange hasn't betrayed anybody. First, he's not a US citizen. Secondly, Assange isn't an intelligence officer and hasn't signed any kind of non-disclosure statements or sworn any military oaths. Assange is a journalist and was doing his duty as a journalist. The intelligence services of every state have their own code of ethics and traditions. Their officers have a different kind of accountability. But that doesn't apply to Assange. Thirdly, Assange is the one who got betrayed. He's been basically forsaken by the government of his home country, Australia, and by the government of Ecuador, which had been sheltering Assange for the last seven years. Meanwhile, the US and Great Britain have betrayed their principles of the freedom of speech which, for some reason, don't apply to Assange.
Now, Assange is being accused of complicity in acts of terrorism. It sounds absurd but it's supposed to sway British public opinion toward the view that arresting and extraditing him is the right thing to do.
But please, what about the London exile Akhmed Zakayev, the Chechen who had 11 charges filed against him in Russia, including murder, terrorism, participation in an insurgency, and so on? Back in 2003, Moscow addressed London, asking for the extradition of Zakayev to Russia, but the local Magistrates' Court refused, claiming that Zakayev is being persecuted in Russia for political reasons and might get tortured there. These are blatant double standards.
And now Assange, who's more dangerous than Zakayev, according to Britain, is preparing to get extradited to the US from the UK.
